(ORDO NEWS) — Experts analyzed samples taken from the glaciers of Tibet. They found 30 viruses unknown to science in them. The age of some of them reaches 15 thousand years. The study was conducted a long time ago, but its results became known only today.
Reported by Microbiome.
Tibet’s glaciers have been forming over time. Each new layer of ice contained viruses. It should be noted that these layers can be used by scientists. They will tell a lot about microbes and viruses, climatic changes at different historical times.
To obtain the required number of samples, the specialists made two ice cores on the plateau and the top of the ice cap. In the laboratory, the experts used a special innovative method of analysis. They found out the following:
• Some samples are about 15 thousand years old.
• 33 viruses survived in glaciers. Science knows only four of them.
• The ice retained much less viruses than experts usually found in the soil or ocean waters.
• The detected viruses could feel great even in the most extreme conditions. Due to special genetic signatures, organisms could be infected even at low temperatures.
Experts suggested that all these viruses originated from plants or soil and have nothing to do with humans and animals.
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